[AT] OT - Old Chimney Question

[Rob Gray]

Charlie,

Thanks for the response. I've never had a chimney fire, but I'd be 
worried if I did since this chimney is original and I'm not sure how 
well a stone chimney of that age would withstand a fire.When I bought 
the place I had a chimney sweep here. He put a camera up the chimney and 
said it looked good although he could not give me anything in writing 
due to liability concerns. The chimney is built inside the house as 
opposed to being on the outside of the outer wall, which probably would 
make any sort of chimney fire worse.

Regarding the size of the fireplace; I can stand up inside of it with a 
few feet clearance above my head. The opening to the fireplace is 
probably 5' 8", but once you step inside the thing is all open until the 
flue tightens in at about 8' from the fireplace floor. There is a big 
bar up above where they used to hang meat and hang their pots from for 
cooking. It is not that the  house itself is big (it is just a plain old 
stone farmhouse), but they used to cook in this sort of fireplace before 
iron cookstoves were invented so they made the fireplaces big to use as 
a  hearth. In winter when a roaring fire is going in the fireplace you 
can feel the heat of the flame on your face on the other side of the 
room. They definitely don't build them like that anymore (although I 
guess that is a good thing)..... I don't want to tear out the old 
chimney and fireplace, but I want to be able to heat with wood at least 
part of the time without too much danger of fire....... It is a 
dilemna......

Rob



charlie hill wrote:

> Hi Rob,
>
> You are right to be concerned.  I have had a chimney fire or two and 
> they are scary at best.  Luckily mine were contained in the chimney.  
> If the idea of your whole house rumbling while flames shoot several 
> feet out of the top of your chimney for a couple of minutes bothers 
> you then  don't allow creosote to build up.
>
> Folks around here handle the problem by first making sure their 
> chimney is sound and properly designed and then by periodically 
> allowing the fire to burn every hot  with an open draft to keep the 
> creosote "burned" out before it gets to a critical mass.  Cleaning 
> with the brushes certainly would help too!
>
> Oh by the way...... "Stand in the fireplace"???   Wow you weren't 
> kidding about it being a BIG fireplace!
>
> Charlie
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Gray" <Robgray at epix.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" 
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2004 4:11 PM
> Subject: [AT] OT - Old Chimney Question
>
>
>> I apologize for the off-topic post but I figure some folks on here 
>> might have some good advice (and this is rural related in that it 
>> involves the burning of firewood and I also use my old tractor to 
>> drag the felled trees with)... ;)
>>
>> My house has a main chimney primarily used for the first floor 
>> fireplace. This big old fireplace was originally used for cooking 
>> when the house was built. This chimney is the old, non-lined, 
>> wide-open type and it has a stove pipe that accesses it on the second 
>> floor. The chimney has a large flag stone on the top to keep rain 
>> out. The second floor stove pipe just sticks out a few inches into 
>> the chimney. I have a woodstove connected to that second floor pipe. 
>> My concern is that this woodstove is exhausing into a large chimney 
>> and this creates a lot of creosote. I have read that having woodstove 
>> smoke output into a large chimney can cause creosote buildup since 
>> the smoke hits the walls of the relatively cold chimney and leaves a 
>> lot of creosote.When I stand in the fireplace and shine a flashlight 
>> up the chimney I can see shiny creosote on the walls of the chimney 
>> starting just above the stove pipe.  How concerned would you be with 
>> this situation? Is this an acceptable way to use this stove as long 
>> as I regularly clean the chimney with  my extension brushes? I'm 
>> leery of a chimney fire.....
>>
>> Any advice would be appreciated.
>>
>> Rob
>> NE PA
>>
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